First it started with Flickr and now Digg — have begun to test the strength & resolve of their fanatical communities. Their actions now have the possibilities of either earning the respect of the community or chasing away their users to their competition. Here is a tale of 2 communities:

1. Flickr limits user options

Synopsis:

Flickr is taking a beating in two key forums right now over their decision today to force “old skool” flickr users to merge with Yahoo accounts and new limits on both number of contacts and tags allowed on Flickr (Source: Thomas Hawk)

Flickr Response:

We’ve heard your feedback and we’ve made a wee tweak to the contact limit change:While you’re limited to 3,000 non-reciprocal contacts, we’ve lifted the limit for reciprocal contacts — that is, if you and your buddy have each other as contacts, it won’t count towards the limit. (Source: Heather via Flickr)

2. Digg kills the “Top diggers” concept

Synopsis:

Some of our top users are being blamed by some outlets as leading efforts to manipulate Digg. These users have been listed on the “Top Diggers” area of the site that was created in the early days of Digg when there was a strong focus on encouraging people to submit content. After considerable internal debate and discussion with many of those who make up the Top Digger list, we’ve decided to remove the list beginning tomorrow. (Source: Digg blog)

Fallout: One school of thought stresses that “Digg kills Top Diggers kills Digg“. Another school of thought feels that Digg can afford to do away with the Top Diggers feature given the fact that they are big enough now. I’ll post my take tomorrow, but in the meanwhile, answer me this: